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M2 PRESSWIRE-January 18, 2008-PARSHIP.co.uk: INTERNET DATING STATISTICS: 7.8 million UKsingles logged on to find love in 2007 (C)1994-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
London - According to PARSHIP, Europe's largest premium online matchmaking service, which uses a rigorous personality profiling test to determine compatibility, the Internet has become a mainstream way to meet someone special: there's now a 50:50 chance that any single person you know is currently logging on to find love. In 2007, 7.8 million single Britons used some form of online dating service to find romance, compared to the 5.4 million who used a mixture of offline and online services in 2005.
If many British singles still prefer the more casual approach, with over one third (39%) ready to sit back and wait for that special person to come along by chance, Internet dating is now far more than a niche activity: in the last 12 months, 52% of British men and 48% of women have used the Internet to find a date, compared to 2005 figures of 36% for men and 34% for women. What's more, 53% of singles (59% of men and 46% of women) say they intend to use the Internet meet someone in the future, with figures rising to 65% with 36 to 40 year olds who say they intend to log on to find love in 2008.
Nearly one third of singles (29%) believe it's a great way of finding love (as opposed to a casual fling), and nearly two thirds of singles (57%) say it's socially acceptable, even if 25% of people in a relationship would beg to differ.
Tony Blin Stoyle, PARSHIP's country manager for both the UKand Ireland, commented:
"UK singles, particularly those between 30...